Your Words Matter

In My Mailbox: Summer 2017

September 11, 2017

For a little insight into how my summer’s gone, feel free to pop over to my “Making Time For Writing” blog post. That’ll tell you all about why this post is so short. Don’t worry, the blog’s about to get much more consistent. For now, here’s what was in my mailbox: summer 2017.

I’m so excited to share that Brendan is contributing to “These Words Matter” in December! His latest (and first solo) novel, Nemesis, published this year and he was kind enough to send me a copy.

Published: March 21, 2017 (G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers).Description (from Goodreads): It’s been happening since Min was eight. Every two years, on her birthday, a strange man finds her and murders her in cold blood. But hours later, she wakes up in a clearing just outside her tiny Idaho hometown—alone, unhurt, and with all evidence of the horrifying crime erased.

Across the valley, Noah just wants to be like everyone else. But he’s not. Nightmares of murder and death plague him, though he does his best to hide the signs. But when the world around him begins to spiral toward panic and destruction, Noah discovers that people have been lying to him his whole life. Everything changes in an eye blink.

For the planet has a bigger problem. The Anvil, an enormous asteroid threatening all life on Earth, leaves little room for two troubled teens. Yet on her sixteenth birthday, as she cowers in her bedroom, hoping not to die for the fifth time, Min has had enough. She vows to discover what is happening in Fire Lake and uncovers a lifetime of lies: a vast conspiracy involving the sixty-four students of her sophomore class, one that may be even more sinister than the murders.

I was lucky enough to receive an advance copy of Amber’s debut, The Way I Used to Be, last year. Her publicist sent along her sophomore novel as well, which I can’t wait to dig into!

Publishing: February 6, 2018 (McElderry Books).Description (from Goodreads): How do you let go of something you’ve never had?

Junior year for Brooke Winters is supposed to be about change. She’s transferring schools, starting fresh, and making plans for college so she can finally leave her hometown, her family, and her past behind.

But all of her dreams are shattered one hot summer afternoon when her mother is arrested for killing Brooke’s abusive father. No one really knows what happened that day, if it was premeditated or self-defense, whether it was right or wrong. And now Brooke and her siblings are on their own.

In a year of firsts—the first year without parents, first love, first heartbreak, and her first taste of freedom—Brooke must confront the shadow of her family’s violence and dysfunction, as she struggles to embrace her identity, finds her true place in the world, and learns how to let go.

Published: September 5, 2017 (Atheneum Books for Young Readers).Description (from Goodreads): In search of the perfect story to put a human face on a tragedy for his newspaper, my dad will fly into the eye of the storm. And now he’s heading to Ukraine, straight into the aftermath of a deadly earthquake. I don’t want him to leave. I don’t want to spend the week alone in a silent house with my mother, whose classically Russian reserve has built a wall between us that neither of us knows how to tear down. But I don’t tell him this. I don’t say stay.

I think I’m holding it together okay—until the FBI comes knocking on our door. Now it’s all I can do to fight off the horrifying images in my head. The quake has left so many orphans and widows, but Mom and I refuse to be counted among them. Whatever it takes to get Dad back, I’ll do it. Even if it means breaking a promise…or the law.

I REVIEWED

Looking for an absolutely epic read? I’ve added to my 5-star list, and written reviews for the following fantastic titles (click the photos for each review!).

What books did you read this summer? What books did you add to your shelves? Please comment below!

Bree Crowder is a writer and editor with interest in fiction (MG, YA, and fantasy), and lifestyle. Writing, reading, photography, and travel are a few of her favourite things.

She went to university to study English, and then went to college at the post-grad level to study creative writing. Her work has been reviewed by HarperCollins editors. Now, she writes for publications like HelloGiggles, Quirk Books, and Bustle. She is also an Editorial Literary Assistant with P.S. Literary Agency.

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About Bree

My name is Bree. Writing, reading, photography, and travel are a few of my favourite things. I am an Editorial Literary Assistant at P.S. Literary Agency and I write for publications like HelloGiggles, Quirk Books, and Bustle.